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Month: May 2014

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a trip to Miami for my uncle’s 50th birthday. On the way home, I had to go through one of those full body scanners. That morning, I debated with myself about whether I wanted to wear a binder or be “comfortable” and wear a sports bra. (Note: after a while, neither one of them are really comfortable, but the comfort of the sports bra tends to last a little longer) I ended up binding since I wanted to wear just a T-shirt with no hoodie.

So, of course, I get stopped after going through the scanner because the area over my chest where I wear my binder had been highlighted. The male TSA officer pulled me aside and patted down my chest. Luckily, he either didn’t seem to notice the binder or didn’t care enough to say anything, and he sent me on my way.

I never really thought that a binder would set off any alarms. I wonder if the same thing would have happened if I had worn a sports bra. That would have definitely been more awkward to have a pat down in that compared to my binder.

Fortunately, I only have one more trip to worry about binding, and that will be on my way to top surgery in San Francisco in a few weeks. It does make me wonder how others deal with security who haven’t had surgery yet and get identified as male.

I meant to post some additional updates for my one year on T and my weekly posts, but I have been swamped with midterms, CrossFit competitions, and Alex coming home. I hope that I can resume soon, but it may just have to wait until I finish this quarter (which is also when I finish school for good, assuming I make it through OChem with a B-). Just 6 more weeks to go.